Houston-based Ranger Energy Services Inc. has agreed to exchange shares for Patriot Completion Solutions LLC in order to expand its Lower 48 wireline business.

Ranger provides well service platforms and associated oilfield services (OFS) for onshore domestic producers with a focus on well completions and unconventional production operations. Patriot, a portfolio company of White Deer Energy, provides cased-hole cable, pumping and coiled tubing services primarily in the Bakken and Eagle Ford Shale, the Permian Basin and the Rockies.

Ranger would add 22 wired units to its fleet with Patriot. No other financial details were disclosed.

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“Adding Patriot to our Ranger portfolio of companies checks a number of strategic boxes,” said CEO Darron Anderson. “Operators continue to drive capital discipline, resulting in significant growth in well maintenance and response style. Patriot’s core service offering, which is to assess and act on cables, plays a critical role in these types of operations, significantly expanding Ranger’s current capabilities. “

Patriot’s Corded Finisher must be integrated with Ranger’s Mallard Corded Business Unit to create “an immediate, larger-scale synergy capture.” Most importantly, Patriot brings an extremely talented and technical team to the Ranger family, along with an asset base of 22 wireline units, significantly increasing our fleet size and geographic reach.

Patriot, which completed a Chapter 11 restructuring last October, is led by CEO Dragan Cicvaric.

“As we enter our next phase of growth, we are excited to join the Ranger family of companies,” said Cicvaric. “Ranger has demonstrated its knowledge and commitment to the wireline industry through its Mallard brand. Their reputation and experience bring an extreme level of enthusiasm and confidence to our team.

During the 1Q2021 conference call in early May, Anderson expressed frustration with Ranger’s wireline business. He said the results of recent times had been “tempered by still low prices”.

The wireline market, he said, was “ideal for consolidation.

Ranger, he noted, was working on “multiple” small mergers and acquisitions, both additions to existing OFS lines and some to expand core offerings.

“Tactically, we believe in being opportunistic,” Anderson said. “There is a right time and a wrong time in every cycle to be acquisitive. I will note that what turns out to be the right long-term timing decision often goes against consensus thinking at the time. “